Backstage News On WWE SummerSlam Pre-Show Matches, Runtime

Backstage News On WWE SummerSlam Pre-Show Matches, Runtime

WWE is featuring more overall programming today than at any point in company history. Monday Night Raw is three hours long, SmackDown Live is two hours and NXT is one hour.

Of course there’s the WWE Network, where fans can watch content on demand 24/7. But then there’s the monthly pay-per-views and that’s where the story gets a bit sticky for fans.

Less is better for many of the WWE faithful. Though diehard pro wrestling fans happily digest every possible moment of a broadcast, many others are growing tired of events that seem to drag on forever. Those fans may not be happy with the latest news on WWE SummerSlam.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has details on the upcoming August 19 event and it looks to be a marathon. Evidently SummerSlam is expected to run at least five hours and could stretch to six hours by the end.

There’s also news on pre-show matches for the event. WWE will likely feature two to three matches before SummerSlam actually begins. As of this writing, seven matches are booked for WWE’s summer spectacular.

WWE’s pay-per-view events are of course joint presentations, spotlighting both Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live. That obviously affects the overall runtime for monthly events and SummerSlam is no exception.

But while some fans are likely groaning at the news of SummerSlam’s length, they would be happy to know they have a notable ally in that argument. That ally is none other than Eric Bischoff.

Bischoff appeared on an episode of Jim Ross’s Ross Report podcast, in which he gave his opinion on just how long pay-per-views should be. Eric believes that three hours is the ideal length because fans are usually left wanting more after the event is over.

He went on to say that anything over three hours would likely get repetitive and disenganging for the audience. WWE’s critics surely could not agree more with that sentiment, as SummerSlam looks to be just one hour shy of WrestleMania 34‘s seven hour runtime.